[Russian newspaper] РУЛЬ (Rul’) [= The Rudder] No. 176, Saturday 18 (5 Old Style) June 1921. A Russian democratic daily newspaper, printed in Berlin and addressed primarily to Russian exile communities in Germany, Europe, and beyond. It functioned as a serious political newspaper with commentary, foreign correspondence, economic analysis, cultural reports, and extensive classified advertising. standard large-format newspaper, multiple columns, daily issue. The publisher/editorial circle was associated with liberal–democratic Russian émigré politics, strongly anti-Bolshevik but pragmatic, attentive to European diplomacy, Russian economic collapse, and the fate of refugees.

Published by I. V. Gessen (Isaac Vladimirovich Gessen). Gessen was a leading Russian liberal intellectual, publisher, and publicist, closely associated with: Constitutional-Democratic (Kadet) politics, Press freedom and rule-of-law advocacy, Russian émigré democratic journalism in Berlin. Under Gessen, RUL’ was conceived not as a partisan exile organ but as a serious daily newspaper modeled on European liberal press standards, combining: Political analysis, International correspondence, Cultural reporting, Commercial and social infrastructure for émigrés. This explains the paper’s restrained tone, absence of ethnic scapegoating, and emphasis on legal-civil norms rather than ideology., Berlin, 1921

About this Item

In Russian. 4 pages, complete. 46 x 31 cm. In acid free Mylar sleeve. Creased, easily remedied. This issue of RUL' is a snapshot of the concerns of the Russian émigré community in mid-1921, when the Russian Civil War was ending but the future of Russia - and of exile life - remained unresolved. Published in Berlin, then the chief center of Russian emigration, the paper maintains a sober liberal-democratic tone aimed at educated readers: former professionals, intellectuals, & political moderates displaced by revolution. The front page is dominated by the regular column, EVENTS OF THE DAY, which surveys international and Russian developments with particular attention to relations between Soviet Russia and Western powers. The editorial rejects Bolshevism but emphasizes that isolation will not resolve Europe's "Russian problem." Instead, the paper argues that economic relations with Russia are unavoidable, even as political recognition remains problematic. The tone reflects growing European fatigue with intervention & blockade. Considerable space is devoted to Russia's internal condition. Reports and commentary describe economic devastation, disorganized administration, food shortages, & industrial paralysis. While condemning Bolshevik policies as destructive and doctrinaire, RUL? stresses that Russia's collapse cannot be explained by ideology alone; it is the outcome of war, revolution, and the systematic uprooting of professional & economic life. The audience is a displaced intelligentsia aware that national recovery cannot occur without legal stability, property rights, and technical expertise. Foreign affairs coverage: correspondents' dispatches and telegrams from Poland, Finland, the Baltic states, Britain, and France. These items trace shifting diplomatic positions, border questions, and commercial negotiations. A recurrent theme is the gradual movement of Western governments from moral condemnation toward reluctant engagement with Soviet authorities, driven by commercial pressures and strategic calculation rather than ideological sympathy. Page 2 includes commentary on the émigré press itself. An article titled THE PRESS addresses the challenges of maintaining independent journalism in exile: financial precarity, factional rivalry, and dependence on foreign environments that do not always share Russian priorities. The discussion reveals anxiety about the long-term survival of a free Russian press abroad and the risk that political exile may devolve into intellectual fragmentation. The middle pages are filled with factual notices and telegrams reporting on provincial fires, economic disruptions, strikes, population movements, and administrative measures inside Russia. Their restrained style reinforces RUL's self-presentation as a reliable chronicle rather than a polemical weapon. These short items collectively convey a sense of exhaustion and instability rather than imminent renewal. The final page shifts focus to Russian life in Berlin, documenting the everyday reality of exile. Cultural listings announce theatrical performances, concerts, and lectures, demonstrating a conscious effort to preserve Russian cultural continuity outside the homeland. Extensive classified advertisements form one of the issue's most historically revealing sections, offering medical services, language instruction, employment, boarding houses, and spa accommodations in German resort towns. Particularly notable is the ADDRESS BUREAU, a service designed to help scattered émigrés locate friends, relatives, and former colleagues. This issue of RUL' embodies a moment of uneasy transition. It reflects neither revolutionary fervor nor monarchist nostalgia, but a liberal, rational attempt to interpret catastrophe, sustain civil discourse, and preserve social networks in exile. The paper records not only political events but the quiet labor of survival by Russians who no longer expected an early return home but had not yet accepted permanence abroad.

Seller Inventory # 017483

Bibliographic Details

• Title: [Russian newspaper] ???? (Rul?) [= The Rudder] No. 176, Saturday 18 (5 Old Style) June 1921. A Russian democratic daily newspaper, printed in Berlin and addressed primarily to Russian exile communities in Germany, Europe, and beyond. It functioned as a serious political newspaper with commentary, foreign correspondence, economic analysis, cultural reports, and extensive classified advertising. standard large-format newspaper, multiple columns, daily issue. The publisher/editorial circle was ...
• Publisher: I. V. Gessen (Isaac Vladimirovich Gessen). Gessen was a leading Russian liberal intellectual, publisher, and publicist, closely associated with: Constitutional-Democratic (Kadet) politics, Press freedom and rule-of-law advocacy, Russian émigré democratic journalism in Berlin. Under Gessen, RUL? was conceived not as a partisan exile organ but as a serious daily newspaper modeled on European liberal press standards, combining: Political analysis, International correspondence, Cultural reporting, Commercial and social infrastructure for émigrés. This explains the paper?s restrained tone, absence of ethnic scapegoating, and emphasis on legal-civil norms rather than ideology., Berlin
• Publication Date: 1921
• Language: Russian
• Binding: No Binding
• Condition: Good